God Only Knows

The trouble with all human beings    Is this: They want to understand God, Which is nothing short of impossibility. - Sri Chinmoy

Another scholarly work has just been released, explaining (in 416 pages) why God doesn’t exist. The God Delusion, by anti-theologian Richard Dawkins, was reviewed in The New York Times this weekend by Jim Holt, who spent several words arguing with Dawkins, explaining why God does exist. Exactly how some people are clever enough to explain such things, I’m not sure. A physicist learns about physics, a writer learns to write, but I’m not sure what credentials you need to analyse God’s existence (or otherwise). God-believers feel absolutely, utterly certain of His existence. Atheists feel likewise about His non-existence. A few years ago, scientists – obviously not sure why some people believe in God – figured out that there is a part of a brain that makes us believe in God. (Presumably, there’s a part of the brain to make us believe in everything. The Santa Claus and fairy sections obviously shrink as you get older.)

Paul Davies, one of Australia's leading thinkers (leading thinkers?), had gone to some lengths to explain that God couldn't possibly exist because there's no scientific evidence. Huh? Just as well Mr Davies was born after Newton, or he'd insist that there were no laws of motion!

I’ve always believed in God. No, I can’t explain. I just have a good feeling that He exists, which either means that I’m right or that the God-believing part of my brain is healthy. But I’ve always been amazed at how some people could write so much about whether or not God exists. Here (in fewer that 416 pages) is the small amount I know. 1.    The human mind has a lot of capacity, but it has its limits. It can’t work out the meaning of life, and numerous other things. (In my case, it can’t even work out how to program an iRiver.) 2.    God (by definition, whether or not you believe in Him) is the greatest Being/Thing ever, encompassing everything. 3.    How is the mind, with all its limitations, supposed to figure out that? 4.    That’s all. So with all due respect, I can’t understand how someone can be totally convinced about the non-existence of God. Just because we can’t possibly understand Him, it doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. (I can’t understand Kylie Minogue, and she exists… apparently.) I’ve been meditating for nearly half my life. That involves switching the mind off and spending more time in your Higher Self. Not easy (and I’m not exactly a yogi), but in my brief glimpses, I’ve had some sort of feeling that God exists.

And what’s He like? Is He like the Christian God? The Hindu God? The Muslim God? The Jewish God? Not sure. But if He encompasses EVERYTHING, surely he can be a little more complex than just one being. So will everyone stop fighting!!! Yeesh! (Hey, even regular people are more complex than just one persona. If we’re like that, imagine what God would be like.)

OK, that’s enough of that. Next time I’ll talk about something frivolous, I promise.